Inner spring cushion and mattress structure



May18, 1943 D,v T, WN 2,319,431 4 INNER SPRING CUSHION AND MATTRESSSTRUCTURE Filed No?. 2, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l 12 jo 6. J9 J 1NVENT0RBYvA/(GLL'Q,

May 18, 1943 D. T. OWEN 2,319,431

INNER SPRING CUSHION AVNDYMATTRESS STRUCTURE Filed Nov. 2, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet 2- 3o I 9 18 J6 1? 30 3 y A, INVENTOR 6 r muv/11 awr/vPatented Mey 1s, 1943 INNER SPRINGr CUSHION AND MATTRESS STRUCTURE DavidT. Owen, Cleveland Heights,` Ohio, assignor to Hanna G. Dimick, CuyahogaFalls, Ohio Application December 2, 1940, serial N0. 36s,133

(ci. s-zsoi 8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in mattresses and cushions of thetype having spring units therein, which units generally consist of alarge number of coil springs secured to each other in spaced relation. uAs the springs of these spring units must be, limited to a maximumheight of approximately 51@ inches, so as to avoid sway and shake in thefinished mattress, excessive padding (cotton or other padding material)is needed to obtain the desired customary height of the mattress, about6to 7 inches. However, padding material, cotton, etc., is compressibleand in use packs, clings together and looses its fluffy condition andyielding action. This is particularly the case at the border edge of amattress, as these edges are mostly exposed to excessive use and aresupported only by the outer springs of the spring unit within themattress.

The primary object of Vthe present invention is the provision of amattress or cushion of the type referred to in which the customaryspring unit carries and supports on its outer springs additional springmeans so as to construct prop erly yielding edges with stored reserveelasticity to equal the elasticity of the interconnected inner springsand in which the iinished structure is soft and yields and keeps itsshape and form under all conditions. K

This general object of the invention is attained by attaching to theouter springs ol a spring unit for a mattress or cushion elongatedstrips of yielding material, padding the thus constructed spring unit,and inserting same into a bag so that the elongated strips supported bythe outer springs of the spring unit are tensioned, help to properlyshape the sides of the thus constructed mattress or cushion, and preventa decrease in the height of the sides of the mattress when the paddingmaterial should pack.

A mattress or cushion constructed in the man- A. ner described above issoft and comfortable in use and keeps its shape'and form duringexcessive wear without loss of its straight edging.

These and other important additional objects.l

and novel features of construction, combination and relations of partsby which the objects in -view have been attained will appear and are setforth in detail in the course of the following specication.

The drawings accompanying and forming part of the specication illustratecertain practical embodiments of the invention, but it will be apeparent as the speciiication proceeds that the structures disclosed maybe modified and changed in various ways without departure from the truespirit and broad scope of the invention.

Fig. l shows a fragmentary cross sectional view through a mattress withan inner spring unit having supported upon its outer springs iii)elongated yielding strips in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a-perspective view of one of the yielding strips before itsattachment to the outer springs of an inner spring unit.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view similar to Fig. l showing a somewhatmodied form of the yield- 'ing strips attached to the outer springs ofthe inner spring unit of the mattress.

' showing still another modified form of the yielding strips attached tothe outer springs of the inner spring unit of. the mattress.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of the yielding strips used in thestructure disclosed in Fig. 7.

Referring now more in detail to the exemplifled form of mattressconstruction shown in Figs.

l and 2 of the drawings, reference numeral 2 represents an inner springmattress, the inner spring unit 3 of which consists of a plurality ofcoil springs 4 interconnected-with each other to a unitary spring bodyunit by means of clips 5. The outer springs 6 of this spring body unithave mounted upon their opposite end coils 1 and 8 elongated yieldingstrips 9 made of flexible slightvly resilient material (such as pasteboard like material). Strips 9, as shown, embody a base portion Il)secured to end coils 1 and 8 of outer coils 6 by means of clips IVI, anda shorter upper portion I2 integrally formed with base portion I Il andconnected therewith by a curved connecting portion I4. .The thusconstructed strips lwhich are preferably slotted as at I5 to permit oflongitudinally yielding action, enclose the inner layers I6 of paddingmaterial I1, form roundi ed parallel edges for the mattress tofacilitate its proper shaping in a simple and economical manner, andyieldingly support the edges of the mattress, due to theinherentelasticity of `these strips, when the outer layers I8 of thepadding material are placed on the thus prepared struc- `ture and foldedaround the rounded edges of the strips and when the structure nallyunder compression is sewed into a cover or bag I9. During this sewingprocedure the upper or top portion I2 of each strip is yieldingly forcedtoward its base portion and thus put under tension so as to provideample spring action for stretching the sides 20 of the mattress shouldits padding pack.

In the modified form of construction of a mattress shown in Fig. 3 thestrips 2 I, supported on -these strips.

the end coils 'I and 8 of the outer springs 6 of the spring unit, havesubstantially V-shaped cross sections and are attached to these outersprings by means of clips Il, so that their elongated pockets 22 extendoutwardly toward the sides of the mattress. In this arrangement upwardlyextended portion 23 of each strip 2I, which portion is shorter than itsbase portion 24, forms a bracing and holding edge member for theouterlayers I8 of the padding material l1, layers I8 being folded around saidbracing and holding edge member to provide smooth top and bottom edgeson the mattress and dispose of the ragged edges 26 on layer I8 bytucking these edges into the elongated pocket 22 of strips 2l.

-Inaddition, the described construction permits of quick and economicattachment of ticking 21 to base portion 24 by means of clips 28, thusmaterially simplifying present day construction in which the ticking ofa mattress is sewn to sisal layers folded around top and bottom coils ofthe outer springs of a spring unit.

In the modified form of construction of a mattress shown in Fig. 5 ofthe drawings, the substantially V-shaped strips 29, supported on the endcoils 'I and 8 of the outer springs 6 of the spring unit, have arrangedtherebetween coil springs 30 to increase the inherent elasticity of Thedisclosed structure otherwise generally resembles the structure shown inFig. 1, therefore scrutinized description of Fig. 5 is superiiuous.

Finally, the modified form of construction of a mattress shown in Fig.'7 of the drawings discloses a structure quite similar to the structureshown in Fig. 3, with the exception that the V- shaped strips 3I of thisconstruction have arranged between their integrally formed divergingbase portion 32 and upwardly an-d outwardly extended upper portion 33coil springs 34 embodying two coils only, a base coil 35 secured to baseportion 32 by means of clips 36 and a top coil 3'! secured to upperportion 33 by means of clips 33. This arrangement, in which the twocoils 35 and 31 are angularly related to each other, provides asubstantially unobstructed, elongated pocket 39 and insures proper andsirnple tucking of ragged edges 28 into these pockets, It is obvious,that, if desirable, the edges on brace portions 23 and 33 may be roundedto avoid ltearing -or cutting of cotton layers I8 folded around theseedges.

Having thus described my invention:

What I claim is:

l. An-inner spring for cushion and mattress structures comprising a,spring unit with substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, andyielding, elongated, V-shaped strips of flexible material seated on saidtop and bottom surfaces near their edges, each of said strips having itsoneA flange secured to the adjacent surface of the spring unit and itsother flange extended outwardly from said surface. 2. An inner springfor cushion and mattress structures comprising a, spring unit withsubstantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, yielding, elongated,V-shaped strips of flexible material seated on said top and bottomsurfaces near their edges, and spring means between the flanges of saidV-shaped strips, each of said strips having its one flange secured tothe adjacent surface of the spring unit and its other flange extendedoutwardly from said surface.

3. An inner spring for cushion and mattress structures comprising aspring unit embodying.

a plurality of coil springs having their top and bottom convolutionscoupled together to form a unitary spring body, and yeilding, elongated,V-shaped strips of flexible material seated on the top and bottomconvolutions of the border springs of said spring unit, each of saidstrips having its one flange secured to the adjacent convolution of aborder spring of the spring unit and its other flange extended outwardlyfrom said convolution to form extended yielding edges cn said springunit.

4. In an inner spring cushion and mattress structure a spring unitembodying a plurality of coil springs having their top and bottomconvolutions coupled together to form a unitary spring body withsubstantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, yielding, elongated,V-shaped strips of exible, slightly resilient material seated on saidtop and bottom surfaces near their edges, and padding material coveringsaid spring unit and extended into said strips between the flangesthereof, each of said strips having its one flange secured to theadjacent convolution of a border spring of the spring unit and its otherflange extended outwardly from said convolution to form extendedyielding edges on said spring unit.

5. An inner spring cushion and mattress structure as described in claim4, wherein said V-shaped strips have arranged between their flangesspring means attached to the inside faces of said flanges to effect anincrease in the resistance of said V-shaped strips against compression.

6. In an inner spring cushion and mattress structure a spring unitembodying a plurality of coil springs having their top and bottomconvolutions coupled together to form a unitary spring body withsubstantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, elongated, V-shapedstrips of cardboard seated on said top and bottom surfaces near theiredges, padding covering said top and bottom surfaces and extended intosaid strips between their flanges, and covering means for said paddingtensioned around said V-shaped strips and secured to the flangesthereof, each of said strips having its one flange secured by clips toan adjacent convolution of a border spring of said spring unit and itsother flange extended outwardly from said convolution.

'7. In an inner spring cushion and mattress structure a spring unithaving a substantially straight top surface, yielding V-shaped strips ofslightly resilient material seated onsaid top surface near its edges,padding covering the said top surface and folded over said strips withits edges pocketed between the flanges thereof, and a covering for saidpadding tensioned around same and fastened to said strips.

8. In an inner spring cushion and mattress structure a spring unitembodying a plurality of coil springs having their top and bottomlconvolutions coupled together to form a unitary spring body havingsubstantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, V-shaped slotted stripsof exible,`re silient material seated on said surfaces near their edgesby securing each of said strips with its one flange to an adjacentconvolution of a border spring of said unit so as to extend its slottedother fiange outwardly-from said convolution, and padding materialcovering said surfaces of said spring unit folded around the slottedflanges of said strips and having its edges tucked between the iiangesof said strips.

DAVID T. OWEN.

